


After the Storm

by binarylightyear



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Badass Rey, F/M, Finnrey, Force-Sensitive Finn, Grey Jedi, Protective Finn, Reylo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-16 08:44:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5821879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/binarylightyear/pseuds/binarylightyear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will be updating regularly now, because I invested in this story after refinding it. Please leave feedback! || Rey convinces Ben to come back with her to the rebel base to reconcile with everything/everyone there (including Luke).  Time is about a year after the final scene in EpVII.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

‘Take it off,’ she snapped.

Ren looked at Rey through his helmet, and then slowly lifted it off. He could see her more clearly now, but her anger hadn’t dissipated. His scar was clearly visible now, and he could see her eyes flicker over it. 

‘Rey,’ he said quietly.

‘I can’t believe you,’ she huffed. She had changed in the past year or so since she left, and she carried herself differently. He could feel the impression of Luke on her. ‘Where’s your troops, hmm? Aren’t they who you rely on?’

Annoyance flickered across his calm exterior. Briefly. He chose to ignore the taunt.

‘Let’s… talk about you instead. Let’s talk about Master Luke.’

‘Why? You’re wondering where he is so you can finish him off?’

‘You found yourself a teacher.’

She sighed heavily, crouching down so she could pick up a handful of dirt. ‘I did. He told me a lot about you. About the Force, all aspects of it.’

He crouched down beside her, helmet down into the dirt. He shifted it slightly so it sat level. His eyes stayed on it. ‘You realise our connection, now.’

‘I might realise it, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.’ His eyes rose to hers, and for the first time, her face was impassive.

‘We could teach other a lot, you know. We could change things.’

‘I’m not going to go to the Dark Side, Ben.’ Her eyes caught onto his, and for a moment, neither said anything.

‘We both know I couldn’t go to the Light. I’m thinking more of something in the middle.’

‘Will you come home?’

He stood quickly, leaving his helmet there and turning from her. The onset of emotions was more than he wanted to reveal to her, but he knew she could feel them. Every single one. She didn’t move. She was patient, more in control of herself than he would ever hope to be.

‘Your mother misses you. She just wants to see you.’

‘She won’t ever forgive me, Rey.’

‘If Master Luke is willing to forgive you and give you a chance, why wouldn’t your own Mother?’

He pressed a hand to the nearest tree, leaning against it. She came between him and the tree, looking up at him. He looked down at her.

‘Come home with me.’ Her fingers gently came to press to his cheek, and his eyes closed. ‘Leave everything else behind. You don’t need it.’

‘With you,’ he said, softly inquiring. She whispered an affirmative. His eyes opened again. ‘Don’t let her kill me.’

Rey smiled. ‘I imagine she’ll do a lot of things to you, but she wouldn’t kill you.’

‘Mm, you underestimate her,’ he said, head turning just enough to kiss her palm. Her hand was pulled back quickly. ‘Now?’ His hand dropped from the tree, and he stood up straight, just as quickly.

‘Ben–’ She stepped so she was in front of him again. ‘I still haven’t forgiven you. I’ll need time.’

His hands came to her shoulders, running over the stitching softly. ‘I know. It’s all right. I’ll be home with you. We’ll be battling side by side. That’s enough.’

\--

‘So, you’re coming back with me?’

Ren’s fingers gripped onto her shoulders a little firmer. They were still standing in the forest. He wanted to leave, but the thought of everything that that would mean– everything that would happen, all the enemies he would make. Everything he had already done. It went from him to her, and she shivered. 

He had already given his acceptance of it, but they hadn’t moved. She looked slightly worried.

‘Ben?’

‘Yes. Yes, I’m coming back with you. For you. I no longer wish to fight you, Rey. Not now. I… can’t.’ She hesitated, remembering the affection from before, but her fingers came to trace the scar she had given him softly. ‘What if they don’t accept me back. What if Mother–’

‘Stop.’ He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. ‘She wants you home. She’s your Mother. She loves you.’ 

‘I know, I…’ He pressed his forehead down to her shoulder, having to bend over to achieve this. She was still for a moment before her arms wrapped around him, and they sunk down to crouching, settling into the dirt. She was deeply taken aback– he was shaking, twitching against her, and their connection caused her to have to force herself to control her own emotions. She had seen his emotion before, had felt it in thick waves that crashed against her and made her shake. It had made her have to strengthen her resolve, to believe in herself, to listen to the Force– and she had been training for this. Her and Luke both had known she would have to be enough, more than enough, to match his raw, and harnessed, power.

‘It’s all right. We can figure it out.’ It was soft, a few minutes later. The shaking had subsided, but he was still pressed against her, arms around her, not making a sound. ‘I know it’s intimidating, but it will be all right. We’ll go home, we’ll regroup, take some time for everyone to adjust. You’ll provide some intel, and then we can leave. Go somewhere and train. Find what it means to be neither a Jedi nor part of the dark side.’

Ren leaned back a little, and her arms loosened. He cupped her cheeks in his hands, and she looked at him, eyebrows furrowed. ‘I’d like that. I want to name constellations with you when we stare up at the stars on some uncharted planet. I want to show you the stores of knowledge I found or have heard about. I want you to feel all of my emotions, even when we aren’t close. I want you to teach me to fix things, and scavenge, and what the different parts do. I want to…’

Her hands brought his down from her face, and she looked up at him a bit more sternly. His cheeks reddened under her gaze, and then her face softened again. ‘I’d like that too. But we have to get through the hard stuff before we can even consider it seriously.’

‘They’ll… want to destroy the First Order.’

‘Yes,’ she said in slight disbelief. ‘Yes, of course. Who better to than their Commander?’

He pulled back a little, standing up and turning, frowning. His emotions somewhat reciprocated, he now had his common sense back into his spectrum. His mind calculated quickly, and his emotions were fully back into his control. ‘I can’t just leave. I’ll have to say I’m going somewhere. I have the entire Order at my disposal; it would be foolish just to go awol.’  
She slowly climbed to her feet, knocking the dirt off of her clothing. She was quiet, watching him.

‘I will say I am following up on a lead, looking for Luke. I’ll bring a few trusted troopers with me. I’ll meet up with you, and we can go home.’

‘A few trusted troopers?’ She was in disbelief again. ‘Ben. I know you’re their Commander but–’

‘I’ve been hearing whispers. The troopers won’t be returning to the Order. They want to leave, like FN-2187.’

‘Finn?’ She walked around so she could look at him again. ‘Other troopers want to leave?’ Her eyes were wide as she looked up at him.

‘Yes. I’ve heard some things, being around. I can’t say it hasn’t crossed my mind before.’ He touched her chin softly. ‘Besides, I have some personal belongings I will want to take with me.’  
‘Of… of course. But, promise me.’ He stared at her, confusion clear. ‘Promise me. Swear. You’ll come to where we meet. You won’t leave me there.’

‘Rey, I swear to you. I’ll come, even if I have to murder everyone in the Order myself.’ He kissed her forehead softly. ‘I promise.’


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (It's been so long but I forgot I wrote this, and decided to write more. I hope more is coming, and feel free to leave comments and suggestions for future chapters!)

Rey paced back and forth on Mustafar. He had wanted to meet here, and she could understand why. The place where his grandfather had been really turned into the man that Ben admired so much. Plus, it was abandoned, as far as she knew. The mining facilities hadn’t functioned in ages.

He was late, but she tried not to think of it. She went back to her X-Wing, popping in the cockpit and leaning back, feet propped up over the console, eyes closing. She reached out to him, trying to feel for him. It was only a few seconds later that he met it. Clearly, he was close. She relaxed at this feeling, taking in long breaths, listening to the time and lava go by.

It was the sound of his ship that finally made her stir, a couple of hours later. She sat up, hand to her lightsaber at her waist, watching the descent and the door opening warily. She reached out to him again, just a light probe, and he responded with a full sense of warmth. She relaxed, jumping out of the ship to come and meet him at the door.

He already had his helmet off, and he came to her quickly, wrapping her in a hug before she could protest. Her arms wrapped around his neck, meeting it, and they stood there for a minute before she finally pulled away.

‘Did you get away all right?’

‘Yes, and I have a few troopers with me. More than I could have originally hoped for. Come and meet them?’

‘Yes, okay,’ she agreed, and they went aboard his ship. She literally did not remember the last time she was there, as she had woken up aboard Starkiller, but somehow it still seemed familiar. The troopers were sitting around the mess table in the kitchen, all with their helmets off, and they immediately stood upon their entering.

He held up a hand, and they all relaxed, sitting back down again. ‘You all remember Rey?’

‘Yes. If from rumors if nothing else,’ one said, winking up at her and returning to his food. There was seven of them in all, and so it was a squeeze, but somehow they all managed to sit around the table. Rey and Ben sat closer together than the troopers, but neither seemed to mind. ‘Did you really knock out a dozen while escaping?’

‘Pfft, what, no?’ She said, wrinkling up her nose and accepting a drink. ‘Don’t be silly. It was two dozen at least.’ This coaxed a laugh from the troopers. ‘What compelled you all to leave?’

‘I want to find my family, if I can,’ one at the end said, and the one beside him nodded. ‘Find out what my real name was, and if not, help no one else be taken.’

‘That’s a cause I can get behind. Finn told me you all have nicknames used amongst yourselves?’

‘That’s right.’ They proceeded around the table to share their names, mostly, it seems, derived from some incident or another early on in their training. All but one from the same group. They ate and drank amiably enough, sharing worries and laughs alike, but after a while Ben pulled her away and up to the cockpit. They sat down each in one of the seats, and were quiet for a moment.

‘Are you going to follow me?’ She wondered, eyes right on his.

‘That would seem like the most logical course,’ he answered quietly, hand coming to cup her cheek, to which she leaned in to. ‘The sooner we get there, the sooner we can deal with all of this, the sooner that…’

‘I know,’ came the quiet answer, and she stood, crossing that little gap to hug him tight. He met it immediately, arms strong around her. ‘I’m so relieved you came.’

‘You had doubts. I am not surprised.’

She shook slightly in laughter. ‘I was afraid you would get found out, or get waylaid with some kind of mission, or someone else would try to come with you, or…’

‘But none of that happened. I came. I’ll always come back for you.’

‘You followed me all over the galaxy once. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.’

‘To be fair I was following the droid, not you particularly. You were… a bonus.’

‘How romantic,’ she said drily, and this time it was his turn to laugh. He pulled away, and she followed suit, fingers fixing his hair with a smile. ‘I’ll see you at home?’

He kept her eyes before replying with a small affirmative. Her hands came from him, leaning over the navigation system to lay in the course, just in case. He watched her navigate the system flawlessly, maybe with a few searching for buttons, but those became fewer and fewer as she worked.

‘All right, all set. Do try not to get lost.’

‘They know I’m coming? They won’t attack?’

She looked over at him, standing up straight again, and a flicker of a frown crossed her brow. A flicker of doubt. ‘No. Not unless I tell them to. We had a very long debate about this, Ben. Don’t make a fool out of me.’

He stood as well, hands to her shoulders reassuringly. ‘I practically fell to my knees begging you for this. Feel free to use that against me.’

‘I was going to anyway.’ She bopped his nose and pulled away, waving to the troopers as she passed by on her way out.

The trip, luckily, was uneventful, and as she pulled off her helmet, she was Finn there waiting for her. She broke into a smile, hopping from from the cockpit to walk over to him. He met the smile briefly before it disappeared, squinting up to where Ben’s ship was approaching. ‘He actually agreed. You sure this isn’t a trap?’

‘No, I’m not,’ she replied, helmet down on a workbench and standing there watching as well. ‘I’m not sure of anything, but if he’s lying, he’s a lot better than anyone else I’ve ever met.’ She looked at Finn. ‘And I’ve met my fair share.’

‘How did you even get him to agree to finally come home?’

‘I think he’s in love with me.’

‘Well that’s ridiculous!’ Finn said quickly, probably too quickly, and she shrugged.

‘The General wanted him home, right? Now he’s here, and we don’t have to fight him anymore.’ She strode forward now that the ship was landed, and he followed after her quickly, Poe’s patched jacket he was wearing not particularly liking these quick movements. He gave the lightest of winces, but Rey didn’t see it.

‘But what’s the cost, hmm?’

‘What’s the cost!’ She turned on him in midstep, and he hit the brakes to avoid running into her. She glared at him. ‘Who cares what the cost is! Did you really just say that? He’s the key, isn’t he? To bringing down the First Order?’

‘We could have done it without him. Look what we did to Starkiller, huh?’

‘It’s been a year since then and we aren’t any closer.’

‘But—‘

She cut him off. ‘Look, I know it’s uncomfortable, but you promised you’d be okay with this.’

‘There’s a big difference between being okay with him being here, and knowing that— there’s a big gap, Rey. A really big gap.’

‘You promised.’

They stood there, both frowning at the other, until he sighed. ‘Fine.’

‘Fine.’ She turned and walked towards Ben’s ship again, which was now open. He had appeared to watch their conversation, but was the perfect picture of calm when they approached. ‘Ben, you remember Finn.’

‘Of course,’ Ben said, nodding to him. ‘I’m glad to see you’ve recovered.’

‘Nice scar,’ Finn said, arms crossed. He was clearly working to keep the frown off of his face.

Ben’s head tilted, but his calm mask didn’t disappear. ‘I have some troopers with me whom you might know. I was hoping you could get them acclimated, the proper gear, and a debriefing.’  
‘Your troopers?’

‘They wanted to leave. Just like you did. Only they didn’t break a prisoner out and steal a tie fighter.’

Finn stepped forward, mouth open to utter what was sure to be a nasty remark, but Rey stepped in front of him, giving him the look. He stopped, looking away after a second. ‘Okay, sure, fine, whatever.’ He readjusted the jacket, and Ben turned to go get the troopers from the ship. Rey relaxed, if but slightly, glancing at him every few seconds. ‘He did that on purpose,’ he muttered.

‘Yes. He did. Please, Finn.’

‘Yeah, yeah.’

All the former troopers knew Finn, clearly, and his sour mood disappeared, leading them away while talking jovially. They asked him questions about his escape, and he asked them about how in the world they could side with Kylo Ren. Their voices slowly faded as they made their way towards the main complex, and then Rey and Ben were alone again. She waved a hand for him to follow her, and he did. BB-8 rolled up to them as they walked, beeping excitedly at her. She laughed, smiling down at it.

‘What did it say?’ He wondered, glancing down at the BB unit.

‘Oh, nothing, it’s not important,’ she replied, but her smile that still lingered suggested differently. It accompanied them into the building proper, rolling away only when they walked into the main war room.

The room immediately quieted. Ben paused just inside the doorway, looking around at everyone. Rey was a few more steps in before she noticed that he wasn’t following. ‘You all knew he was coming!’ She said to the room. ‘Now he’s here, but don’t let him distract you from your work.’ It was still another minute before the work resumed, the little taps and beeps and talking over ear pieces. She rolled her eyes and continued through the room. He followed, easily catching up with long, sweeping strides. His emotion reached out to her, and she glanced over at him, meeting it with warmth. He was clearly nervous, shaky, even, one might say.

She knocked once on a heavy door before entering without waiting for a reply. Leia was inside, waiting for them. She had an empty plate and mug at her desk, and she was working, but she stood upon seeing them, eyes from Rey, who nodded encouragingly, to Ben, who she hadn’t seen since he was a child.

‘Ben?’ She asked quietly, even though she knew.

‘Mother,’ he answered, and they met in the middle, hugging. Rey, suddenly uncomfortable at hearing the General cry, backed out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind her. She stood against it for a while, making sure things were all right, before she left, going back to her quarters to change and to talk to Master Luke.


	3. three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (sorry for any minor typos!)

Luke was there. The rooms given to the pair of them were pretty expansive, but for the most part he was either in his sleeping quarters or the main room, watching out the view screen that served as a window. They were much too far interior for an actual window. He said her name quietly when she came in, but it was another second before he turned or said anything else. ‘He’s here. And he’s with Leia.’

‘Like I told you would happen.’ She took off her jacket and hung it up on a peg by the door, then came and sat cross-legged on the floor beside him. He sat as well, stroking at his beard thoughtfully.

‘It’s as if Vader is here again.’

‘Does he truly remind you so much of him?’

‘He has the same presence. They have the same stories, after all, or pretty close to it.’

‘Maybe he is with Ben.’

‘Maybe.’ Luke looked at her, hand dropping down to his knee. ‘It troubles you.’

‘Doesn’t it you?’

‘He’s here. He’s making an effort to change. Even if it’s not entirely for the right reasons, it’s something.’

They sat in silence for a while, and eventually she laid back, feet up on the wall, floating marbles above her in circles.

Finn came by some time later. He didn’t knock anymore. He used to, when she first arrived with Luke, because he was intimidated by the legend, but not anymore. He walked right in, sitting by her head and watching her fidget.

‘Finn. Any luck with your own use of the Force?’ Luke wondered, not even opening his eyes.

‘Uh, no, Master Luke, not yet.’

Luke reached out a hand to the side and drew Rey’s marbles into his palm. She made a noise of protest, but Luke shushed her. ‘Come on, Finn. You’ll never get better if you never practice.’ He shot a marble at him, and Finn’s hand raised immediately to catch it. Luke actually sighed. ‘With the Force.’ Luke shot another marble at him, and though Finn tried, it hit him in the cheek.

‘Ow!’ He picked up the marble and lobbed it at Luke, and Rey laughed, even though soon both her and Finn were getting pelted with marbles. They were all laughing until they turned and saw Leia and Ben standing there, mouths slightly agape, watching them. All the marbles fell to the floor, and all three stood up straight, Rey and Finn trying not to laugh still.

‘Having fun, are we?’ Leia wondered, a smile appearing.

‘A bit of pestering to try and coax out some Force use,’ Luke said as an explanation before his gaze turned to Ben. Giving the man his dues, Ben didn’t move under the gaze, but instead met it. Rey took a step back, feeling the energy between them, arm out to move Finn back with her. She almost tripped and fell over the marbles, and with a few quick moves got them all into a basket again to the side, pocketing a few to fidget with later.

Still, no one said a word.

‘Perhaps we should let these two work out their problems, hmm?’ Leia suggested after a few minutes of very uncomfortable silence. She waved a hand to Finn and Rey, and while Finn was all too eager to get out of the room, Rey paused in front of Ben. She touched his cheek, turning his head so she was looking at him. They didn’t say anything, but they didn’t have to. A hand came up, thumb pressing against her lips lightly.

She pulled away, picked up her jacket and staff on the way out, and the door closed behind her. She sighed heavily, tugging on her jacket. Finn and the General were just looking at her. ‘He needed a reminder,’ she said defensively, heading in the other direction. They let her go, and she found herself down at the sparring ring. She sat down, staff over her knees, and watched impassively. One of the troopers from Ben’s ship was there, already in a new outfit, bouncing and testing his mettle against some of the more seasoned Rebel forces.

A couple of times, the entire base shook, and the fighters would fall over, usually laughing. She would look over towards her and Luke’s quarters at this, but no one was sounding the alarms, so she assumed it was okay. She went back to watching.

‘Hey, hell of some quakes we’re having, huh?’ Poe sat down right beside her, BB-8 rolling up and spinning around to watch all the happenings.

‘I’m trying not to think about all the things I’ll have to pick up later.’

‘That bad?’

‘I know it has to happen, but…’ She trailed off, knees up and arms wrapped around them. ‘I’m just trying not think about it all in general.’ There was a pause. ‘How are you?’

‘Doing all right. Just put in my last recon report a few minutes ago, and now I’m here with you, waiting. I’m assuming everyone will have to be there for the debriefing. Can you imagine all of the intel he can give us? About Snoke? About everything?’

‘Yes.’ She looked over at him, and his head tilted just like hers so they were looking at each other the same way.

‘I thought you’d be a little happier, sunray.’

‘I am happy,’ she said, entirely unconvincingly. He nudged at her shoulder until he coaxed a smile out of her.

Eventually he convinced her to come and eat in the mess, and they went there, talking about small things mostly. People around them were rushing by to do this or that, but for once Poe and Rey weren’t among them. Poe could be very serious when the time came for it, but he was also very good at keeping people’s minds off of the ever-impending doom, which he seems to do more and more often these days, especially since Luke and Rey arrived.

They sat and ate together at a crowded table, laughing at some story one of the troopers was telling them. When the mess slowly became silent in waves, Rey looked up, eyes immediately finding Ben walking amongst the tables, looking unhappy and slightly uncomfortable. She stood, and he was there almost instantly, picking her up and in a hug, which she answered with her arms around his neck. At any other time, she wouldn’t have allowed it, but just this once, she permitted this.

‘I was given a room,’ he murmured into her neck. ‘Can we go talk, there?’

‘Yes, yes of course,’ she murmured back, pulling away to get her tray to put away, wide eyes only for Poe’s benefit, to which he raised his eyebrows. ‘I’ll see you later?’

‘Yeah, don’t forget about the meeting,’ he said, squinting after her and Ben before shaking his head.

Rey finished her food as she walked to put away the tray, and Ben followed silently, trying to ignore the quickly dissipating quiet that followed in their wake. After she was done, he led the way out and back to a staircase, leading down into the mostly un-used living quarters and meeting rooms. He scared some droids and a few maids alike before they arrived. He punched in a code to open the sliding door, looking very much ancient, and let her enter first.

The lights slowly flickered to life as she stepped in, staff beside the door. He walked in behind her, touching his helmet where it sat on a low table. His hand paused once it came back off of it, as if considering putting it on, before he continued into the room. More lights came on, and she followed him, a bit wary, and eventually he flopped onto a couch, hands running down his face.

‘That was… a lot harder than I imagined it would be.’

Rey let out a breath, coming to sit beside him, curled up just enough so she could look at him, expecting him to talk more. He didn’t for a moment, and she tugged off her boots to be more comfortable. Still, nothing, so she said quietly, ‘but you did it.’

‘I did. And no one died.’ His hands fell from his face, and he looked at her, eyes moving over her features, taking her in. ‘You were right. Mother… she understood.’

‘She wanted you home. She knew that you were being influenced.’

‘Thank you.’ His hands came to her shoulders, the only affection she hadn’t actively rejected up to that point, but his eyes didn’t leave her. ‘And Master Luke… I’ve never seen him so angry.’

‘Confronting a betrayer is often like that,’ she said drily, eyes holding his. ‘What happened?’

‘It… doesn’t matter. We came to an understanding.’

‘An understanding? What does that mean?’

‘It means we both acknowledge what went wrong, that neither of us are entirely to blame, though each of us are responsible for our own actions, but the real culprit is Snoke.’

His words hung in the air, and after a few seconds, she pulled closer, arms wrapped around his neck again. He relaxed, letting out a long sigh, arms wrapping around her as well. ‘I’m so proud of you,’ she whispered.


End file.
